


Royal Ambassador

by partyaminal



Category: Chaotic (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Kinnianne is new to the desert, Mudeenu doesn't want her in the oasis at all, Siado is here to help her settle in
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-06-28 02:58:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15698739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partyaminal/pseuds/partyaminal
Summary: This story takes place a little prior to when humans started appearing in Perim. In this story Kinnianne was recently sent as an ambassador to the Mipedians and follows her trying to understand both the scaly creatures that call the desert home and their culture as well as try to better understand and adapt to her position as ambassador.





	1. Welcome to the desert

Kinnianne looked through her monocular telescope. During her diplomatic training; she was taught everything that her teachers could before she was sent to Al Mipediam or whatever the locals like to call that blasted desert of a home.  
The problem? no gave her any coordinates or clues as to where the Mipedian Oasis is located before she left.

Kinnianne took a deep breath before mumbling angrily to herself "if I die out here; so help me Cothica I will come back from the dead and haunt Maxxor for sending me here!" She turned her head a little to the left and pointed the monocular telescope in that direction and what she saw put the biggest smile on her face.  
Out in the distance; there was a wall with two guards standing in front of what appeared to be two giant doors that resembled those found at the entrance to Kiru city, with what appeared to be a palace, that was colored like the sand, standing silently behind those very walls.

The fox placed the telescope back into the satchel before walking towards what she just identified as being the Mipedian Oasis.

After walking for what felt like hours, days even, (which was only one hour) the fox fell to her knees panting. Kinnianne quickly pulled out her flask and took a swig of what little content remained. She slowly got back up on her feet and continued her walk.

The desert sun was unforgiving, with every minute that went by it felt like it got hotter. Eventually she got to what she guessed was the first checkpoint. One of the guards spotted her and raised his hand "Holt! state your business!". The fox pulled out a scroll and said "I am Kinnianne, ambassador for the Overworld tribe, I am here on behalf of Maxxor to meet with the Royal Council" The guard took the scroll and began to read through it. "Ok...you're clear...next check point is ten yards that way" the guard pointed down a hill behind him after he handed the scroll back to the fox. The fox smiled as she passed the check point and descended the hill.

Now, this was all good and all, but once she reached the 13th and final checkpoint was the two guards stationed outside the giant doors, she was out of breath, out of patience, and just didn't care anymore whether or not the guard would let her in or not. she just wanted water.  
The atypical "Holt!" was yelled at her for the thirteenth time.

This time however, instead of stopping and repeating herself for the thirteenth time, Kinnianne just threw the scroll at the guard who fumbled around to catch it and yelled "I'M Kinnianne! Ambassador! HOT, THIRSTY AND TIRED! NOW OPEN THE DOOR!"  
The two guards back up a little. One guard held up his hands in a defensive posture while the other one clutch the scroll closer to his chest like it would protect him.

The guard who was holding the scroll turned and whispered to the other guard "open the door! if Mudeenu or Iflar or anyone else asks, she was cleared in advance".  
The other guard shook his head in agreement and pulled opened the door for Kinnianne. The fox just marched pass the guards holding an annoyed expression.

After she passed the door and entered the Oasis, the fox looked around what appeared to be an open air marked. She took another deep breath before deciding to buy some water before heading to the palace to meet with the Royal Council.


	2. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kinnianne meets learns about the main three.

The Royal Palace. Oddly enough, from a distance the palace looks pretty and welcoming, but up close, it looks the exact opposite. Maybe the architects made that intentional, but then again no one can be sure.

A sleek and slender guard known as Siado was lazily sitting with his back against one of the palace's front doors, he was staring up at the sky and watched the clouds slowly creep by. He then slowly got up to his feet and began to stretch his arms. He never really took sentry duty too serious, yes, he would come to the aid of the Royal Family when trouble arrives, even those that annoy him, but waiting for the arrival of an Overworld ambassador? Really?

The sight of a female fox looking around with a confused expression caught his attention. He watched as she would look through tent after tent until she left his line of sight.  
Now, normally Siado would just ignore stuff like this. After all, thieves are rare in the Oasis, but that doesn't mean they don't exist or there was never a attempted theft before. But oddly enough, Siado felt like he should follow this female out of curiosity.

He walked over to the tent the fox stood in front of before peaking around the corner and spotting her talking with one of the water merchants. He walked up behind her as the old water merchant turned around slowly disappeared deeper into the tent. "Excuse me mam" he said to her.

Kinnianne turned around. Her eyes met the eyes of the Mipedian who wanted to talk to her.  
"Yes?" she asked in a rather confused manner.  
"I happen to notice that you're lost and judging by the look your face, you're dehydrated. Yes?"  
Kinnianne rubbed the back of her head "yeah, the desert was not kind to me." She then pointed to the fur on her arm and continued "and this made it worst".  
Siado chuckled under his breath before commenting "yeah, and you were moving around rather suspiciously...kind of like a thief. Well that's the feeling I got".  
Kinnianne felt embarrassed, "great, I was sent here to represent the Overworld tribe to the Mipedians, now I'm probably going to be looked at like a lowly thief!"  
Siado sense that the fox got embarrassed when he confessed that, if the long paused that followed was indication. "So, what's your name?"

Kinnianne finally spoke up "my name is Kinnianne". Siado held out and his hand and said "Siado, nice to meet you". Kinnianne shook the Mipedians hand.  
Siado then asked, after processing her name, "wait. YOU'RE Kinnianne?! the ambassador?"  
Kinnianne nodded before answering "yeah, that's me".

There was a long pause as Siado examined Kinnianne. He had trouble believing that someone this young was THE let alone A ambassador at all.  
"Sorry...it's just....I" he began.  
"Thought I would look something like Maxxor?" Kinnianne remarked as she watched Siado try to find the right words for what he's trying to say.  
"Not really....but I, and I guess everyone else will agree with me when I say this, thought you would be a bit older." he finished.  
Wasting no time, the fox sarcastically replied "blame my parents".  
Siado smirked "not everyone is quick on the draw". Kinnianne chuckled a little.

It wasn't long into the conversation that Kinnianne asked about the Royal Family.  
Siado answer "they're not bad...well most of them, kind of, anyways".  
The fox asked "so they're nice?".  
Siado rubbed the back of his head before responding "let me put it to you like this. Some are nice, some are not, some take their job seriously, some don't".  
Kinnianne rubbed her chin before going "ok, so are their any noticeable ones that I should look out for?".  
Siado thought for a moment before answering "well...there's Mudeenu. I guess everyone in the Overworld knows about him for now.".  
Kinnianne commented with a blank expression "yeah....not a well like figure".  
"I think both Mipedians and Overworlders can agree with that" the lizard said dryly.

"We got Na-inna" Siado continued.  
"What's she like?" the fox asked while arching an eyebrow.  
"She's....her own kind of thing" the lizard commented.  
"Her own kind of thing?" Kinnianne confusedly repeated.  
Siado opened his mouth to say something but paused. He then placed his hand over his chin, trying to think of the words to describe the royal, eventually he gave up and said "lets just say she's something else".  
The fox held her confused expression but said "yeah....I think it's best I don't know".  
The lizard responded "yeah...moving on..."

"Finally, there's Iflar" Siado spoke. "Who?" Kinnianne asked. That name doesn't ring any bells, but he must be important since he's a royal.  
"Iflar's the Crown Prince. Few outside of the Royal Family or Council have actually seen him" the lizard answered.  
Kinnianne asked "why?".  
Siado shrugged before responding "the way I can understand it. He likes his privacy or something like that, maybe there's some other reason, but I don't know. I won't lie to you, the only things I know of him comes from Mudeenu, Na-inna, and Tianne".  
"Anything's better than nothing" the fox sighed.  
The lizard took a breath before saying "from what I'm told; he's very Kind and patient, but from what Mudeenu told me, his patience is not unlimited. He can be dangerous to his opponents and loyal to his allies."

While Kinnianne was processing all the information that Siado gave her, she had one more question "and what does Iflar and Na-inna look like?".  
Siado answered "Na-inna is the young woman who would most likely look board out of her mind. As for Iflar...I don't think I've ever seen him before, or maybe I did and just didn't notice...need anymore answers?".  
the fox shook her head 'no'..  
the lizard clapped his hands together and said "ok then, do you want me to escort you to the embassy?".  
Kinnianne happily accepted his offer. But before the duo took off, Siado pointed to the old water merchant who was holding onto a flask that has been filled to the brim with water that Kinnianne had forgotten about during her conversation with Siado. The fox embarrassingly accepted the flask before walking off with the lizard close behind.


	3. The Sights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On her way to the embassy, Kinnianne sees a few things.

When one thinks of the Mipedian Desert, they think of just that, a desert. Nothing but sand and death, both natural and unnatural. It is here that the weary traveler should remain vigilant, for who knows what lurks behind those hills of sand. It when they find places like the Oasis that makes them think that maybe, just maybe, their long journey was worth it....until they meet the guards doing the security measurements.

"Dear Cothica, another checkpoint...." Kinnianne spoke with an annoyed look on her face as they passed an arch made out of sandstone. To her, this was...what? the fourteenth checkpoint she had to pass on her first day in the Mipedian Oasis? She turned to Siado who was holding a neutral-calm expression and said "I thought the embassy was in the Oasis, why are there more checkpoints?"  
Siado turned to face her and answered "it's annoying yes, but you also have to take into consideration the caution that is needed to avoid things like theft, weapons and battlegear about to be used for murderous intentions, and so and so forth."

The fox sighed; she had to admit that the lizard was not wrong there. He continued "that, and the fact that not everyone knows that you are the Overworld ambassador. Like I said earlier, I think most would agree that they thought you would be older".  
The fox let out groan before speaking "I'm not a child, I'm 58 solons old".  
Siado stopped in his tracks and gave Kinnianne a look of surprise. "You're 58 solons old?" he asked.  
Kinnianne answered "yeah".  
The lizard scratched the side of his head before commenting "really?....wow...I figured you were around Na-inna's age"

Kinnianne just rolled her eyes as a response.

As the duo continued their walk, Kinnianne spotted an odd structure that stuck out like a sore thumb as they walked by. The structure was obviously made of black granite and was shaped to resembled either a cape or a scroll surrounded by three circles that got larger the further they got away from the odd structure. Kinnianne paused and asked what the odd structure was.  
Siado stopped and looked at what the fox was talking about. "That's the Bug Hex Memorial" he said.  
"Bug Hex Memorial?" the fox repeated.  
Siado continued "you know those thing that the Danians use to turn other creatures into Danians? hence the name "Bug Hex". Now, the memorial part comes in because, well, those who were turn into the you know who's has their names carved into the memorial".

Kinnianne stared at the memorial until Siado tapped her shoulder and motioned for her to follow him closer to the black granite cape like structure. As the duo got closer to the memorial, Kinnianne spotted a multiple assortments of flowers placed in front of the memorial left by multiple individuals.  
Siado stopped in front of the memorial and crouched before saying "as you can see; we're not the first to have been here".  
The fox crouched and looked at the names carved into the granite structure and spotted some names that were covered in some kind of black tar-ish looking paint. "Who were these people?" she asked.  
Siado looked at what she was talking about and answered "those were the names of Mipedians who were turned into Danian but were cured".  
"What do you mean by "cured"? What happened to them?" She asked as she continued to scan through the names.  
"They were either actually cured, as in, turned back into a Mipedian somehow or killed...the latter is the most common" he answered as he got up.

Kinnianne turned her head to look up at Siado before looking back at the granite stone. She then got back up and continued her walk with the lizard.

The fox was lost in thought as they continued their walk, and Siado knew this, in an attempt to snap her out of this he spoke "the embassy is just ahead, I think you might like it"  
Kinnianne turned her head to face the lizard and arched one of her eyebrows in confusion.  
As the two got closer to another arch, the fox stepped a few feet in front of the lizard and then paused.

Pass the arch was a bridge with banners with both the Mipedian and Overworld symbols on them, both symbols on their respected tribes color. And at the end of the bridge laid what looked like a palace made of sandstone with multiple trees and bushes circling the building, also decorated with both the tribes symbols. Kinnianne stepped onto the bridge and turned her head to examine the area, to her left in the distance was another bridge with the same banners. As if on impulse, she then looked over the side of the bridge and saw what looked like fountains sticking out of, what she could figure, a small lake.

Siado walked up to her and asked "so, what do you think?"  
Kinnianne turned to look at the lizard and answered "I like it!" with a big smile on her face.  
The lizard took no time to make a sarcastic comment "at least you can't say nobody knows where the embassy is".  
The fox chuckled in response before continuing the walk across the bridge with Siado.

As the two got closer to the door to the embassy, Siado spoke "since you're going to be staying here for awhile, I better give you some advice".  
To Kinnianne, any advice was good advice, "yes?" she asked as she turned to face the lizard.  
Siado stopped to look at her and said "take this advice to heart Mrs. Kinnianne, because is will keep you safe; Be carful with what you say or do".  
The fox tilted her head and held a confused expression.  
Siado continued "just because you can't see or detect anyone, doesn't mean that there isn't anyone listening in on your conversations or watching what you do in your free time, because whoever they are, they could be reporting everything you do or say to someone like Mudeenu or someone else or they are planning to take whatever you unintentionally gave away to blackmail you into submission".

The fox's confused expression turned into a horrified expression "this is common?!"  
The lizard shook his head and replied "thankfully no, but you can and are considered a high profile target, and whoever overhears you could either kill you, blackmail you into their debt, or even ruin you're credibility and possibly put a stop to the diplomacy between Mipedians and Overworlders. So please, take that advice to heart and be careful of what you say and do".  
Kinnianne couldn't think of anything to say. The only thing she was able to do was nod her head in understanding.

Siado to a couple of steps ahead of her and opened the door for her.  
Kinnianne thanked the lizard and entered the embassy. The lizard gave one finally comment before closing the door "stay safe".

As the door closed, Kinnianne examined the front entrance of the embassy. The walls were made of sandstone but the stones themselves were smoothed down to the point where the fox began to wonder if she was able to see her reflection. A blue carpet laid evenly on the floor and stretched from the front door all the way up a set of stairs that split both leftwards and rightwards. There were couches that were evenly placed across from one another with a potted plant in-between every two. She turned her head both leftwards and rightwards and examined the two hallways that went in opposite directions, both sides had two doors each that lead to who knows where, and windows that had blue curtains.

She then heard a door close from down the hall on her left. A Mipedian with the skin color of the moon looked her way.  
"Ah! Mrs. Kinnianne, we are happy to have you here in our Oasis" he spoke as he walked towards her.

Once the Mipedian reached Kinnianne, both quickly noticed something. Kinnianne, after spotting the crown on the Mipedian's head, quickly understood that the creature standing before her was of royalty, she quickly began to think of something professional to say in order to not be looked down upon. Likewise, the Mipedian quickly spotted that the fox standing before him was younger than what both he and the others were expecting, he then started to wonder if he mistaken the ambassador for one of her relatives or assistants that accompanied her.  
Either way, he spoke up "my apologies Mrs., I thought you were someone else".  
Kinnianne bowed and quickly responded rather nervously and quickly "oh! no, no, I am Kinnianne your majesty".

The Mipedian was confused at first, but upon hearing her nervousness, he calmly held out his hand and politely said "my apologies Mrs. Kinnianne, I thought you would be...a little older, my name if Iflar, Crowned Prince of the Mipedians".  
Kinnianne calmly shook Iflar's hand. In her mind, Kinnianne was surprise to find out that the figure before her was Iflar, for some strange reason, she was expecting for him to be more muscular built like Mudeenu.  
She responded "it's an honor to meet you Crowned Prince Iflar".

The Mipedian smiled "you are a respectful one, but please, you can just call me Iflar".  
Kinnianne smiled back and responded "as you wish your maje....Iflar".  
Iflar then said "I hope I'm not being rude when I ask this, but Mrs. Kinnianne, exactly how old are you?"  
The fox responded "not at all, I am 58 solons old".

Iflar nodded his head before saying "58 solons? I won't lie, you look like you could pass off at being younger than that".  
Kinnianne rubbed the back of her head and commented "yeah, I've been told that a couple of times today".  
Iflar's facial expression and tone changed into a more unexcited way as he said "well...I guess we can't stall the meeting anymore...you ready to begin your first day?"  
Kinnianne's facial expression and tone also changed, but instead it changed into a more nervous way, "to be honest Iflar, I'm not ready". She began to fiddle with the rims of her hood before continuing "in fact, I'm actually kind of nervous that I might make a mistake".

Kinnianne expected to see Iflar sigh in disappointment or make an insult under his breath, but instead, he placed a hand on her shoulder and said "don't worry, not everyone comes prepared for these sort of things" in a understanding tone of voice.  
Kinnianne gave a small smile before saying that she's ready.

Both Iflar and Kinnianne walked down the hall on the left and to the second door on the right. Iflar placed one hand on the door and then pinched the bridge of his nose with the other.  
Kinnianne watched as he did and asked if he was ok.  
Iflar replied "yeah, It's just that my relatives are in this room".  
The fox gave a confused look before asking "but...that's a good thing right?"  
Instead of giving her a simple "yes" or "no", Iflar said "if you were in my position, you would be looking for any excuse to get away from them, not that my whole family is bad or anything, it's just...yeah".

Kinnianne got the feeling she is about to find out what he meant when he said that. "Alright, let's get this over with" was the last thing she thought before Iflar opened the door.


	4. After Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things did not go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have questions you would like to ask, I highly recommend going to my tumblr blog (oh god no! not a tumblr blog!) https://www.tumblr.com/blog/partyaminal. Don't worry, I'm pretty relaxed, feel free to ask any question.

After the meeting, the Royal Family returned to their palace, each with a different opinion on the fox and the meeting that followed. Iflar was sitting in front of a desk in his private chambers listening to the conversation between Mudeenu and Marquis Darini about the meeting that had transpired. He knew that negotiations weren't just going to automatically be met, but he never thought that it would deteriorate as fast as it did.

"I can't believe Maxxor sent her of all the people in Perim" Mudeenu complained "she was caught off guard multiple times, it's like the Overworld held a raffle to see who would be the ambassador and she was the unlucky winner!".

Through Mudeenu's complaining, Iflar had to admit that his cousin was right, Kinnianne was caught off guard more than once. 

Marquis countered "yes, but we didn't do any better. What was suppose to be negotiations for additional drinking water and possible future diplomatic agreements, turned into one sided demands for the removal of Overworld soldiers around Broken Edge and other stupid wants over needs". 

Iflar also had to admit that Marquis was right, the only people who were truly invested into the negotiations was him, Marquis, and one of Iflar's aunts. Everyone else seemed to have been determined to have a screaming match! with the exception of Na-inna...speaking of which, where was she?

"As much as I like listening to the both of you debating one another, does anyone know where Na-inna is? she wasn't present at the meeting." Iflar asked with a hint of concerned for his cousins safety.  
Mudeenu answered "she was hanging out at the Lounge, I had Zhade bring her back here".

Iflar sighed, he was both disappointed in his cousin and relieved that she was alright. Even though his family seems to love getting under his skin, he still loved them...even when there are times where he just wishes he could strangle the life out of them.

"Like I was saying, I think we ruined any possible chances of future negotiations" Marquis continued.  
Mudeenu rolled his eyes and said "Marquis, chasing after something so fragile, like peace, is not always worth the effort".  
Marquis countered "but chasing after something so mythical and possibly fabricated like the Cothica IS worth spending resources on?"

Mudeenu gave Marquis a dirty look while Iflar thought to himself "score one, Marquis Darini". As fun as it is listening to Marquis point out how wrong Mudeenu is, Iflar was getting tired and wanted the two to leave.  
Iflar commented "well gentlemen, it's late, Mudeenu, Marquis, don't you two have to go to the academy tomorrow to root out possible initiates?"

And like Iflar had hoped for, Mudeenu realized how late it was getting, before leaving he commented "I hope the academy has more than a few impressive students for me to get up early, goodnight Iflar".  
Marquis followed foot but stopped at the door, and turned to ask one more question "Prince Iflar, I know this may not be a good time, but what is your opinion on the ambassador?"

Iflar turned around to face Marquis "I'll put it like this. Do I think she's been rushed during her training to meet some deadline? without a doubt, do I think she may be treading close to quicksand? depends on who she comes across. But despite all that, from our short interaction, she's honest and respectful, something that's in short supply here and more likely than not, all of Perim". Iflar stood up and confessed "I'll be honest with you, I agree with what Mudeenu said when he pointed out how many times she was caught off guard during the meeting, and I agree with what you said by the negotiations being turned into one sided demands. I just hope it will be better next time, for both parties".

Marquis rubbed his beard before commenting "you sound, worried, disappointed and hopeful of her".

Iflar glared at the Mipedian standing a couple of feet away from him. "I'm concerned Marquis, did you not see the look on her face once everything was over and done? dry and defeated? emotionally bled? this was just the first out of who knows how many meetings to come, and if that's what she looked like after today, I hate to imagine what she would look like next time. Who knows what's going through that head of hers right now". Iflar then placed his hand in front of his chin.

Marquis couldn't help but tease "are you worried about diplomatic relations with the Overworld or is there something else?"  
Iflar didn't have to say anything to be threatening. So when he gave Marquis a look of annoyance, Marquis quickly gulped and quickly apologized.

Marquis stood still, he sighed as he watched Iflar rub his chin like he was in a deep thought, "Do you think this diplomatic relation with the Overworld will work?" he finally asked sounding unsure.

Iflar let out a defeated sigh before answering "I don't know Marquis, I want it to work!, we need it to work!, the tribe needs it to work!, do I believe we're putting too much faith into this...this project of uncertainty? yes!, I don't know who's the genius who thought it would be a good idea to build those water fountains in the middle of the lake near the embassy, but that's LESS water we have and MORE we NEED!"  
Iflar took a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing "we also need an ally. The Underworlders would rather insult and fight over negotiate, there's no way in this world or in the Spiritlands or whatever lies in-between will the Mipedians talk with the Danians unless it's at the end of a pyroblaster. The Overworlders are at least giving this project a chance, cause in the end, that's all this really is, a project!"

Marquis, rather for better or worst chimed in "lets not forget about our "growing problem"".

Iflar, running his hand down his face, said in a tone that sounded like a cross between annoyed and exhausted "Marquis, another day, please. I need to rest".

Marquis bowed and closed the door as he left the prince's room.

Iflar stared at the wooden door for a few moments before walking over to the dresser sitting a couple of steps away from his bed and removed the armor that covered his torso. He placed the blue colored armor on the floor next to the dresser before taking a glance at his reflection in the mirror stationed in front of him on the dresser. He squinted his eyes a little, he noticed that he has bags under his eyes. Whether or not this is from a lack of sleep or stress due to either taking on the burden of ruling in his fathers absence, or from family squabbles is unclear, though he thinks this might be a mix of all the above.

Iflar chuckled under his breath "won't be long before I start to look like father". despite of this little comment, thoughts of what transpired earlier today at the embassy and Marquis question from earlier came back. He walked over to his bed and sat on the edge and placed both his hands over his face before mumbling to himself "please let this work".

Meanwhile at the embassy-

Kinnianne is sitting In front of her desk in her room with her hands covering her face, the only light source in the room being a small candle sitting near the edge of her desk, she then removed her hands from her face and laid them on the desk. Her ears laid flat on her head and the look on her face resembles something or someone who went on a emotional roller-coaster. She knew being an ambassador wasn't easy, but she never expected it to go downhill as fast as it did.

She knew that there would be moments where some things couldn't be met or reasoned with, but damn if those moments didn't make up most, if not all of the meeting. First there was the demanding, then came the screaming....Kinnianne couldn't find the words to describe the meeting beyond the fact that it just went downhill. She wasn't sure if the Crownd Prince said anything but she wouldn't be surprised if he joined in on the screaming.

"What is the point of this again?" she thought to herself. Was there really a point to these negotiations?, was this just about stroking the egos of everyone on both sides? is this just a way to make one side or the other look good? or is there some solid reasons for these negotiations to even happen?  
The fox sighed, she doesn't know, and quite frankly, she doesn't care, she just wants this to be over with.

Kinnianne looked to the corner of her desk and grabbed a children's drawing. It was the only other thing she brought with her besides her flask. She remembered drawing this when she was roughly ten solons old, she smiled at the drawing as she looked from right to left. There were three stick figures, the one on the right, wearing what appeared to be glasses had the title "daddy" scribbled over it, the small one in the middle had the title "me" scribbled over it, then there was a figure on the left that had the title "mommy" scribbled over.

She then frowned as soon as she reached the figure titled "mommy". She got up from her seat and walked over to the fireplace stationed in the middle of her room and ripped the character of "mommy" from the rest of the drawing and placed it under a log, she didn't have anything that could light the fireplace, but if she did, she would have.

She walked back to the desk and opened a drawer to place the remaining drawing inside. She then walked over to her bed and sat on the edge with her hands on her lap. She was a stranger in foreign land and she knew it, but the feeling of it crept deeper and deeper the longer she stayed. Kinnianne, lost, confused, and despite not willing to admit it, scared of her surroundings, laid her head down on the pillow and curled up into a fetal position.

Before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep, she said a little prayer that tomorrow would be better.


	5. Too Hot to go Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kinnianne wanted to go outside and explore the Oasis some more, but the sun had other ideas. But then a wild Siado appeared and the two talked some more.

Sunlight pierced through the blue curtains on the other side of the room. Kinnianne slowly opened her eyes, then quickly raised her arm to cover her eyes from the blinding "feature" that came with light reflecting off of smooth sandstone walls.

Kinnianne slowly removed her arm from her eyes as she tried to sit up. She squinted and blinked a few times before she was finally able to look at the room without her eyes having the blinding and burning sensation. She let out a yawn before rubbing her eyes and mumbling to herself "note to self: sleep with back facing the windows", she slowly moved her hand from her eyes and towards her head where she noticed that she had slept in her clothes from the previous day. She made another mental note to go to the market again and purchase some new clothes.

The fox stood up and did a few stretches before taking a closer examination of her room. Standing across from her where the first two windows are is a bookshelf stacked with books, scrolls, and other miscellaneous items like a small strongbox and (for some reason) a flute. Across the room in the right-hand corner, a few feet from the fire place was an average size chest with a candle holder on top of it, the fox thought that was a weird and hazardous place to just mindlessly sit a candle holder, especially if there were any lighten candles in it. On the opposite side of the chest, and across from the door, was her desk with a quill and ink bottle on it, behind the desk was another bookshelf with more books and scrolls on it and another smaller chest sitting to the left of the desk with it's back against the wall between the third and forth window. And on the floor in the center of the room is a blue carpet...go figure.

Kinnianne turned her attention back to the bed. Her facial expression shifted from calm and neutral to annoyed "blue pillow, blue blankets" she looked up at the curtains suspended some ten feet in the air from the four posts on the bed and continued "and blue curtains". She let out a sigh before mumbling to herself "I'm beginning to sense a pattern here", yellow walls, ceilings, and floors to represent the Mipedians and blue just about anything else to represent the Overworld.

She decided to leave the embassy for some fresh air.

She left her room and walked down the hall. Having to traverse the embassy until she finally reached the stairs descending to the main floor, she joked to herself about having to walk around the building looking for a flight of stairs but didn't seem to have trouble the previous night. Once she reached ground floor and walked towards the entrance, she took a deep breath and then let out a sigh before opening the door and taking her first steps outside.

The sun didn't seem to want to let up from the following day. She wasn't outside for maybe a minute before the heat started beating the poor fox into submission, and being a creature with fur just makes it worst. "Well, I'm outside, that's a start" the fox thought to herself as she was about to start walking down the bridge and into the rest of civilization.

About halfway across the bridge Kinnianne came to an abrupt stop, she started feeling dizzy and like she was about to pass out. She started wobbling to the side of the bridge where she grabbed ahold of the guard rails and dropped to her knees. Something was wrong, and she knew it, it had to be the heat she thought starting to gasp for air. Her eyes began to grow heavy, she was having a heat stroke and she knew it, she quickly started patting around her belt looking for flask only to remember that it's sitting on her desk in the embassy.

Fortunately for the fox, a familiar lizard quickly rushed over to her with a worried look on his face. "Kinnianne!" he yelled as he ran towards her. The fox heard the voice and immediately recognized it "Siado?" she weakly asked. The Mipedian quickly picked her up and started carrying her across the bridge and back to the embassy, he handed her a water canteen barley filled with water and told her to take little sips until they reach the embassy. Kinnianne did as she was told but still had trouble keeping her eyes open.

Siado quickly rushed the fox back inside the embassy and sat her on one of the couches before taking off for the kitchen.

Kinnianne felt the world spinning as her body started leaning sideways, she didn't know how long Siado had been gone, but it felt like hours. She almost fell off the couch if Siado hadn't had quickly return from the kitchen with a small metal bucket and a piece of blue cloth that he had ripped from the curtains. He quickly pulled out a second water canteen and poured most of it's content into the metal bucket, he then started dabbing (well more like soaking) the cloth into the water filled bucket before dabbing it on the fox's head.

Kinnianne eventually placed her hand over the cloth and pressed it onto her forehead, causing Siado to stop. He decided to take a seat on the floor next to the bucket and wipe a bit of sweat off of his forehead.

There was a long pause before Kinnianne spoke "sorry for making you waste your water Siado"

The lizard looked up and said "don't worry about, it wasn't my water anyway". The fox looked down at Siado and gave him a confused look as she responded "then...where did you get it?" she then lazily pointed at the bucket and followed "and who's is it?"  
Siado held a small childlike smile as he swayed a little to his right and replied "lets just say me and a few other, well more like a lot of others, know how to "cut corners" if you will".

Kinnianne didn't want to know what he meant by "cut corners" but non the lest gave a small smile, she then followed up the conversation by asking "so, did you come here to check in on me or was there something else that needed to be said?"  
Siado didn't disappoint "well, more like both". The lizard placed his hand on his chin looking like he was trying to think before commenting "lets see...I met Iflar, not going to lie, I thought he would be...how do I say this? I thought he be more muscular and taller".  
The fox snickered a little before saying "yeah, you and me are on the same boat on that one".

The lizard smirked and replied "not going to lie, at first, I thought he was a girl walking up to me". The fox started laughing causing Siado to laugh along with her. "Let me guess, you were preparing to sound like a savvy gentleman or a hansom rouge looking for a date until you heard his voice" she sarcastically said trying to hold back her laughter.  
Siado sarcastically replied "I think it was a mix of both", the lizard followed up "and yeah, it was the voice". He continued to laugh with her.

Kinnianne continued laughing and then sarcastically said "I really thought you were going to say "no, it wasn't until she took off her clothes that I found out she was a he"".  
Siado snorted before quickly responding defensively in-between little burst of chuckles "hey now! I prefer girls over guys any day of the week!", the fox continued to laugh.

Siado's smile grew as he started to come up with something devious to say. Kinnianne's laughing began to subtle, the lizard took this time to turn her snarky comment against her.  
"So you're saying you WANTED that to happen?".

Kinnianne gave him a confused look and tilted her head. The lizard continued "oh don't play confused, you probably just imagined me laying on my back, on a bed, in the palace somewhere".  
The fox immediately knew what the Siado was going to do, so instead of getting flustered, she decided to play along "what? no! I would nev..." but she was cut off by the lizard who continued "Iflar, on the bed, slowly crawling closer to me".  
The fox began trying her best not to start chuckling "no..no", the lizard continued "was Mudeenu in there to? because I have this funny feeling you imagined Mudeenu being there as well".

The fox had to admit, Siado was really trying to crack her up, and it worked. "Ok! ok, you win, but I wasn't imagining that" Kinnianne said as she was about ready to break into laughter.  
"So no guys?" he asked still holding his smile.  
"No you, no Mudeenu or Iflar, no guys" she responded.  
There was a short pause before Siado commented "so instead of guys...there were girls?"

Kinnianne yelled "what!", the cloth that Siado had trenched in water fell off her head and onto the floor, the lizard tried to hold back his snickering as he said "Mrs. Kinnianne! I would have never guess that you were like that!"  
The fox couldn't tell if he was still trying to be funny or trying to push her buttons, but she responded "I do not!"  
Siado held his hands up defensively before continuing "hey now, I don't judge. But if you're looking, maybe I can help".  
The fox ran a hand down her face.

The lizard cross his arms like he was thinking, then spoke "oh! I know! there's Mizkio, it may not be a long term relationship, but you won't be disappointed".  
The fox began to say something but got interrupted by the lizard "then there's Jor...maybe we should skip Jorre. But if you're looking for a long term relationship..."  
Kinnianne finally said "Siado! I don't like girls. Period".  
Siado shrugged and replied "I know! I know, just messing with you".

Despite their short interaction the other day, and current interaction going on between them. Kinnianne had to admit, the more her and Siado interact with each other, the more it goes from being two stranger talking to something like a brother-sister dynamic. He took a break from doing whatever important job he was doing to escort her to the embassy, he stopped to explain what the memorial was when he didn't have to, they shared a few snarky comments, and today he came to her aid when she was having a heat stroke and now they're joking around and messing with each other. So to her, it feels like she has a brother, even if that brother was born with scales, and born to other parents, and born into a different tribe.

Siado paused for a moment before commenting "he wanted me to come and check on how you were doing". Kinnianne gave him a confused looked before asking who.  
The lizard answered "Iflar".

"Iflar? why would he send someone to check in on me?" Kinnianne thought to herself. But thankfully, Siado answered the question by following up "I guess he was worried or something, first impressions count and all that other goods stuff, your guess is as good as mine". The fox signed before saying "first impressions with you and him were find, but everyone else? different story".  
Siado rubbed the back of his head before responding "yeah, I heard about what happened during the negotiations. Sorry about what happened".  
Kinnianne reassured him that it was find but he could see right through her.

"Kinni, I can tell this is something you don't want to talk about" he said.  
The fox let out another sigh before responding "Siado, I'm fine, really, just change the subject. Alright". The lizard knew she wasn't but complied with her wishes and changed the subject.

"So that thing I wanted to tell you about? seems like todays a good time to tell you" he started. The fox listen closely, whatever it was, must defiantly be important if it has something to do with today.  
Siado took a breath before continuing "Don't spill water".  
""Don't spill water""? she repeated.  
The lizard explained "on days like these "drought days" as we call them, water becomes limited, dew farms get less water than they do on normal days, so what water that does come gets rationed. And on days like these, spilling water, no matter how big or small, will surly get you some enemies".

Yeesh, that bad.

The lizard took another breath before continuing "and on days like these, everyone becomes effected. The common folk, armies, royals, everyone. They are random. Like, one week can be nothing out of the ordinary and then for a couple of days or even three weeks nothing but drought".

Now Kinnianne realized why water was so important around here, most just figure it's another day living in the desert, but now she understands why one of the people at the negotiations tried to steer the talks back to water whenever it would head off somewhere else. She spoke "looks like I still got a lot to learn".  
Siado tilted his head before understanding what she meant, "not everything is as simple or as complex as some make it out to be"

There was a moment of silence before the lizard spoke again as he looked around the hallway "I'm detecting a pattern here. A yellow and blue pattern".  
Kinnianne raised her arms in victory and said "finally! someone else notices it". The lizard chuckled as he continued to look around the hallway "yeah, I think maybe the designers should have added a little bit of silver or maybe some green to break up the yellows and blues".

The fox nodded in agreement "I think everyone would notice that this is the Overworld embassy from the outside, I don't think the designers should have made it obvious on the inside to".  
The lizard agreed and stood up to stretch his legs. He then asked if the fox would show him around because he was not suicidal enough to walk outside into the unforgiving heat. The fox agreed to show him around.

As Kinnianne got up from the couch and was about to show Siado around the embassy (being her room and the room where the meeting took place), Siado stepped on the one thing he didn't notice while he was examining the room (The wet piece of ripped curtain that fell off of Kinnianne's head) which in turn caused him to slip and fall on his back with a loud *thud* sound.

The fox quickly took a couple of steps towards the Mipedian and ask if he was ok.  
Siado said "hey Kinni, I got something I need to ask you real quick".  
The fox concerned asked "what".

The lizard asked in a very amusing and sarcastic manor "did your water break?"  
Kinnianne's face turned red but she was also struggling to fight back a bit of laughter. She yelled at him to get up with a smile on her face.


	6. The Muscular Lizard Commoth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mudeenu talks with his cousin and visits the Royal Mipedian Academy of Melee Arts with Marquis Darini.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologies for taking too long on this chapter, but due to the hurricane, my internet and power has been going on and off in my area. And I want to apologies in advance if this chapter seems rushed.

The morning sun didn't faze the Mipedian prince as he sat on the edge of his bed. Mudeenu yawned before he stood up and stretched his arms, causing some rather loud popping sounds. Although waking up early was nothing new to him, he still didn't like it, though he hoped that watching the students at the academy thrash each other would put him in a better mood. 

He would not lie if asked if there were times where he personally stopped a match, the answer would always be yes, because even though he has a bad habit of getting carried away during fights, that's not what he looks for when hunting for initiates, because it's one thing to fight an opponent to prove something, it's another thing to go over board and want to kill your opponent, even when your opponent is another student. Mudeenu thought for a moment, he smiled when one thought about winning a few fights against a few well known individuals.

The prince stood up and walked over to his dresser on the far side of the room. It didn't take much time for the prince to get dressed, though the only problem he had was adjusting his cape. But don't tell anyone.

He walked out of his room and into the hallway where he was greeted by a guard stationed next to the door. He nodded to the guard and walked down the hallway. He made a sharp turn to the right at the end of the hallway and descended a flight of stairs, at the bottom of the staircase on the second floor of the Royal Palace, he stopped and took a couple of steps towards the door to his young cousin's room.

He slowly and carefully opened the door just a bit and peered through the sizeable crack. Across from the door, sprawled out on top of the bed was his cousin Na-inna, she looked as though she was either just dropped on the bed with little to no concern or she fell on top of it and didn't bother to straighten herself, either way, Mudeenu was both glad that his young cousin got home safe and hoped that she didn't do anything stupid. While he knew Na-inna can handle herself, but in her currant age and curiosity, anything is plausible.

He sighed inwardly as he slowly and quietly closed the door. The prince returned to the stairs and continued his descent.

The prince stopped on the first floor and took a couple of steps to his left before deciding to take a shortcut through the kitchen. He entered the royal families dinning room where he spotted Iflar sitting on the farthest table, on the other side of the room, munching on some bread. Mudeenu waved to his cousin as he walked over to him, Iflar in turn, waved back. "So this is where you go to hide from the rest of the family" Mudeenu jokingly commented.

Iflar smirked before responding "must not have worked if you found me". Mudeenu dramatically placed his hand over his heart and gasped before saying "why Iflar! I thought we were close! I thought my cousin didn't mind my presence". Iflar shook his head with a grin on his face.  
"who would have thought that the man who trusts me with his secretes, and in turn trusts him with mine, would avoid me!" Mudeenu continued. Iflar had to admit, Mudeenu would be a good actor.  
Mudeenu finished with "betrayed by blood!...oh well, looks like I get to spend more time with Ylinne and Jorre".

Iflar chuckled before quickly pointing at his cousin and jokingly responded "don't go torturing those two anymore than you already do".

Mudeenu smiled and looked around the room before asking "speaking of Ylinne, where is she?"  
Iflar placed his hand over his chin before answering "she's downstairs in the barracks with Kamer-ra".

Mudeenu rubbed his chin before asking "she's still teaching him? I thought he was done with his training".  
Iflar rested his arm on the table and commented "he's a boy Mudeenu, no taller than your kneecap. It's not like he's going to master every battlegear he gets his hands on on the first try".  
Mudeenu placed his hands up defensively "I know Iflar, I'm pretty sure we can relate to that, but normally she's close by, because, well, bodyguard".

The crown prince shrugged and replied "normally she is, but I'm pretty sure I can walk around our home and easily find those who were once my bodyguards and can probably recruit them again. That, and she could use some time off to be with him".

Mudeenu couldn't think of any counter arguments against that, not to mention that he knows that the crown prince can handle himself, hell, most if not all of the royal family know how to handle themselves. In truth, the guards are mostly just for show. But that hasn't stopped some of the family members from befriending them.

The prince decided to change the subject "so...Froggy's still asleep". Iflar rolled his eyes in response "must be planning on sleeping in today" he said before he took another bite of his bread. Well that was short. Mudeenu pressured on anyway "that's how many times now?". Iflar swallowed the bread in his mouth before replying "six times this week" he pinched the bridge of his nose like he was agitated about something.

Mudeenu took note of his cousins action and asked "another migraine?"  
Iflar sighed and removed his hand from his face and answered "no". Mudeenu knows something is bothering his cousin and was growing concern, though he also knows that pressuring his cousin is like unknowingly walking close to deep quicksand, one wrong move and it's over, but despite his better judgment he asked what was bothering him.  
The crown prince's body language made it apparent that he felt uncomfortable answering the question, but he let out another sigh before answering "four more solons Mudeenu".

The prince knew what his cousin was talking about "but that's good news!" he smiled "what's not to feel happy about uncle coming home?"  
Iflar looked at his cousin before responding "it's not that I'm not exited to see my father again Mudeenu, in fact I'm excited, but it's the thought of what he'll be like when he comes home". Mudeenu gave his cousin a confused look.  
Iflar continued "like, would he be like he was before? would he have changed in the past twenty solons during his exile? would he even be the same man I know as father? as you and the others know as uncle? as cousin? brother? or would he come back as something different? something terrifying?"

Mudeenu placed his hand on Iflar's shoulder, bringing back the snow-white Mipedian's focus on him, "to be honest Iflar. I don't know what to tell you, because I don't even know the answer, and I don't think anybody really knows. The only thing we can do is wait and see" he said. Iflar looked back down at the bread in his hand before Mudeenu continued "if he comes back the same old family member we remember, it would be like old times except everyone would be older". Iflar snorted as Mudeenu continued "but if he comes back like what you fear he would, then we can only pray for the best".

Mudeenu let go of his cousin's shoulder and finished "but for now, lets just enjoy what he have now and hope for the best".

Iflar commented "it ain't' easy you know". The prince shrugged and replied "who said it was easy? I was placed into the commander role, and I won't lie, I'm actually enjoying it". Iflar rolled his eyes and Mudeenu continued "Na-inna and Bylkian are in charge of resources, she's in charge of the water coming out of the dew farms and he's in charge of the food. If we told them back before uncles absence what they would be doing, they would look confused and alarmed".

The crown prince chuckled "yeah, the looks on their faces when they found out what their responsibilities were will never stop being funny to me". Mudeenu snorted "especially Bylkian, he looked so defeated, guess he was hoping that he would be in charge of the armories or something, but at least the rest of out family is giving us some assistance". A moment of silence came before Mudeenu shrugged "I don't know Iflar, I don't fully understand the history behind this custom or why we still oblige by it, but I want to say that maybe it's to prepare us for when it becomes our turn to rule, one at a time of course, and help home in our experience on subjects like military, resources, laws, that sort of stuff".

Iflar commented "well...you're partially correct, that has to count for something". Another moment of silence fell among the two cousins, this time, instead of continuing a conversation, Mudeenu commented that he was leaving to which Iflar nodded and ate the last of his bread.

The prince walked out of the families dinning room and into the hallway closes to the front door. He walked a little more before he reached the front door and exited the palace. He turned to his left and walked over to the stables and spotted Marquis standing in front of the entrance with his arms folded, with a tired look on his face.

"You look like you've been here all night" Mudeenu commented as he walked up to Darini. Marquis turned his head to face Mudeenu and replied "just had trouble sleeping, sir". The prince nodded to Marquis before entering the stables.  
A short while later, Mudeenu and Marquis were mounted on two carrier beasts and began there journey through the town and into the desert.

Sometime before their arrival at the Royal Academe of Melee Arts and after they left the Oasis, Marquis commented that he always wondered what the academe does when flash droughts happen. Mudeenu shrugged, the small lake outside the school contained enough water to hold both the student body and the teachers but he remembered times where the lake would dry up and teacher would ration the water around the students.

Once the prince and commander reached the academe, they were greeted by one of the schools prefects standing outside the schools shaded gate. Mudeenu and Marquis were surprised by this, they were expecting Headmaster Ankhyja or another teacher to escort them to the training grounds.

Marquis asked the prefect where the headmaster was, the prefect answered that Ankhyja is currently in the middle of one of his classes but thankfully his class is currently using the training grounds for todays lessons.  
Mudeenu grunted in annoyance but knew it was better not to open his and say anything that could potentially make it's way to the Headmaster.

The prefect opened the gate to the school and escorted the prince and commander into the building.

There, they passed through a couple of classrooms studying various battlegears and fighting styles and walked down countless halls until they reached the training grounds. There, they found Headmaster Ankhyja teaching his class how to use objects within the environment to aid them in battle. The duo caught the attention of the headmaster, he concluded the lesson by dismissing the students.

Mudeenu and Marquis walked up to the headmaster as the students left the area and bow to show their respect. Ankhyja stroked on his chin hair and commented "I'm surprised Mudeenu, I wasn't expecting to see both you and Marquis Darini until later today". The prince responded "we were hoping to see a demonstration of what your students have learned so far".

The headmaster, holding a plain expression, spoke "classes are in session, though, if you are interested in seeing this "demonstration", I'm afraid you will have to wait until classes have concluded, which will be in approximately...two hours". Yup, this is the same Headmaster Ankhyja he remembered from when he to was just starting his combat training. Stern and not afraid to talk back to or down to a royal or anyone for that matter. The only person that Mudeenu was aware of that managed to break through the headmasters stern and strict personality was Iflar, and he wasn't sure how he did it.

Marquis spoke up "we'll wait until then Headmaster". Mudeenu turned to face Marquis as Ankhyja responded "well then...get comfortable...I guess". And with that, the headmaster walked passed the prince and commander but stopped and spoke "and Mudeenu. Next time, just say you're looking for recruits, beating around the bush isn't going to always work in your favor" before exiting the training grounds.

Mudeenu watched as the headmaster left before turning to face Marquis who held a smug look. "I'm going to write you up for insubordination" the prince said. Marquis gave him a stern look before responding "for what? making you wait? you wanted to look for recruits and Headmaster Ankhyja told you to wait until classes were over. If anything, I just save you time from traveling the desert back to the Oasis and having to come back later".

The prince emitted a low growl at Marquis which caused him to emit one back at Mudeenu. He knew Marquis didn't climb through the ranks for being a pushover nor did he earn the title of Royal for spatting about peace. The prince walked over to a nearby tree and sat under it.  
If he was going to have to wait, might as well do it under some shade and out of the sun.


	7. Gold Dewies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rather out of boredom or a child-like curiosity of some kind, Na-inna decides she want to see our "heroine" for herself.

He sighed inwardly as he slowly and quietly closed the door.

Unfortunately for him, despite his best attempts at remaining quite, Na-inna heard him loud and clear. From the moment her cousin took his first few steps towards her door to the moment he slowly opened her door, she heard him. But instead of possibly hearing a lecture from him, she pretended to remain asleep. When he closed the door and took his first few steps away from her door however, the slim female Mipedian opened her eyes and cocked her head up a little to listen and make sure her cousin was gone.

After a few minutes of nothing but silence, she stood up from her bed and let out a yawn and stretched her arms and back before creeping towards her door and peering out it. "Cost is clear" she thought to herself as she slowly stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. She then slowly made her way to the stairs, she peered downed the stairs and waited, she wanted to make sure her cousin (and rest of her family for that matter) weren't coming up. She crouched and began to listen for any signs that anyone of her family members were standing at the bottom of the steps waiting for her. After some time, she concluded that no one was down there and slowly and quietly began creeping down them and onto the first floor.

She knew the front door was only on the other side of the palace. She began to walk towards it when she heard foot steps coming her way from the dinning room up ahead. She stopped in her tracks when Mudeenu walked out of the dinning area and began walking towards the entrance of the palace. She knew turning invisible was not going to work, because the other Mipedian would know there was another Mipedian using invisibility close by. She quickly looked for a place to hide and spotted the doors to the kitchen.

Na-inna walked into the kitchen and waited for a few minutes before deciding to cut through the dinning room and then out the front door. As she popped her head out the door leading to the dinning area, she was called out by her cousin Iflar who was standing at the farthest table on the other side of the room. "Decided to try and sneak by someone this morning Froggy?" he said with his eyes locked on her.

Dear Cothica did she hate that childish nickname her cousins gave her. While it was for fun and harmless and she knew neither of her cousins would use that name in public or in any other way to embarrass her, she still thought it was childish and overall unimaginative, same as the nicknames she gave Rego (Mudeenu) for his ego and Moon-Moon (Iflar) for the color of his scales.

She huffed before stepping out from behind the door. "No...maybe...why do you need to know Moon-Moon?" Na-inna spoke. Iflar smirked and nodded his head before responding to his little cousin "Na, you know how protective we are and can be to our own". She commented under her breath "you guys also get under my skin".  
Iflar blinked before he pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled. Na-inna knew when something was troubling her older cousins, so when Iflar pinched the bridge of his nose, she walked over to her cousin on the other side of the room and stood next to him.

"Something's bothering you Iflar, and it ain't me, so it must be bad" she spoke. Iflar wanted to chuckle at his cousin, but knew she was right. He sighed before speaking "it's just...some important things". Na-inna gave her older cousin a confused look and commented "such as?".  
Iflar cleared his throat before speaking "the ambassador arrived just yesterday". Na-inna responded "and? that's good. Right?" Iflar continued "yes yes that's the good part, the bad part is...we may have jeopardize future negotiations". She repeated ""we"" before commenting "let me guess. She didn't even open her mouth before the demanding started?"

Iflar pretended to cough a couple of times, singling to Na-inna "yes". She sighed before Iflar commented "I sent Siado to go check in on her not long before Mudeenu arrived".  
Na-inna began "so...this ambassador...." but Iflar cut her off "no Na-inna, don't go bothering her, the last thing we need to do right now is for someone to cause more trouble and hurt the negotiations more". Na-inna dramatically gasp causing her older cousin to smile "I would never! I'll have you know dear Moon-Moon that I can liven up any place I step into".  
Iflar jokingly and dryly remarked "explains why everyone leaves so quickly". She pointed to her cousin "hey now, you know it's true".

Iflar sighed "Na, just leave her alone, stay away from the embassy for a while, ok?". Na-inna got closer to her cousin and opened her arms up like she wanted a hug "but Iflar". Iflar tensed up as she wrapped her arms around her "no! Na-inna stop!" she then childishly responded "but Iflar! I want to meet the nice lady". Iflar, annoyed said "Na-inna you are a princess of the Mipedian Royal Family and student of Dibanni, why are you acting childish?" Na-inna looked up at her older cousin "because unlike you or Mudeenu, I like to still have fun, that's why I like being at the Lounge". Iflar exhaled again and rolled his eyes. Na-inna continued "besides, you know as well as I do that it doesn't hurt to get out every now and again".

Iflar sighed, defeated he said "alright". Na-inna let him go as he continued "but don't cause or get yourself, or anyone else for that matter, into any trouble while you are with the ambassador and Siado". She responded "don't worry Moon-Moon, I won't do anything that the rest of our family will regret" as she quickly made her way out of the dinning room and into the hallway. She could have sworn she heard Iflar say "why Moon-Moon?" to himself as she entered the hallway.

She exited the palace and began to make her way to the embassy.

Along the way, near the end of the market place, she spotted Zhade. His tail was wrapped around the branch of a small tree leaving the rest of his body to hang lazily a couple of feet off the ground. His arms hanged lifelessly downwards just like his head, his eyes were shut and he seems to be grumbling about something in his sleep. The female Mipedian walked up to him and started to wonder how he has not fallen down yet.

She then repeated his name a few time in an attempt to wake him up but she only received some unintelligent mumbling in return. After she said his name one last time, she started to poke his face and eventually flicked his nose. Zhade grumbled a little as he opened his eyes to see who was pestering him. Upon seeing the familiar female Mipedian, Zhade lazily lifted his head and lazily smiled and said "Na-inna, wasn't expecting to see you up and early after all that you drank last night".

Na-inna gave him a confused looked before responding "uh, Zhade, you were the one who did the drinking while I just watched the fighting going on. Remember?"  
Zhade dryly opened his mouth and squinted his eyes before responding "uh...I ate a skewed magmas...right?" Na-inna answered "no, that was me, you slumped over the counter and required both me and Vinta to carry you out". She then paused for a moment to look him over from head to tail before continuing "and I thought Vinta took you home last night, wonder why he hung you from a tree instead".  
The yellowish Mipedian thought for moment while rubbing his head before answering "I think. I think it had something to do with his loincloth being set on fire or something".

Na-inna gave him a confused look her eyes went wide and then she spoke "what?" in hopes of getting a better answer but all she got was a shrug.

There was a quick pause when Zhade asked Na-inna if she can hand him the food that was sitting on the rock next to her. Na-inna's confused expression continued as Zhade pointed to a piece of purple cloth wrapped up in a small bundle sitting on the rock just slightly out of his reach. She bend down and picked up the small bundle and opened it. Na-inna was expecting to pull out some kind of small skewed meat, but what she pulled out was anything but. 

"Uh...Zhade, the only thing in here is candy" she said as she showed him a small caramel colored sphere. Either way, Zhade shrugged and opened his mouth, Na-inna put her hands over her hips and gave a smirk, Zhade closed his mouth and grinned before holding his hand out, Na-inna in turn handed him most of the candy. "Hey Zhade, you mind if I keep some?" she asked, he just shrugged and said "if you want".

She pocked the candy in her bra and thank Zhade who had already started chewing on the caramel colored candy. She waved to her long tailed friend as she continued her walk to the embassy.

After some time, she finally reached the bridge leading towards the embassy. She stared blankly at the symbols relating to the Overworld and Mipedians on their respected colored flags, she thought to herself "why were so many needed?" she turned her head to look at the other bridge with the same decorations and then looked down at the water fountains standing out of the water and then thought "now that's unnecessary". She walked down the bridge and the closer she got, the more of the same decorations appeared. She thought "ok, now this is starting to get ridiculous" before she managed to reached the end of the bridge with sweat starting to form on her head.

At the end of the bridge she looked around at the small plant life that stood side by side the pathway and stone stairs leading up to the entrance of the embassy like guards standing to the sides as a royal walked by. She walked up the stone stairs and thought she spotted Siado standing in front of a window on the second floor of the building talking to an unseen figure. She walked up to the entrance of the embassy and knocked on the wooden door.

There was a long pause before she heard footsteps approaching the door. She waited a few more second and wiped some sweat off of her, the door opened to reveal Siado standing on the other side. "Na-inna? what are you doing here?" he asked, wasn't sure why anyone else would want to come to this corner of the Oasis unless they were looking to kill time.

"I heard the ambassador arrived the other day and I figured it would be rude of me not to formally introduce myself" Na-inna answered with a smile, though stretching the truth. Siado's facial expression went from surprise to something that clearly said "uh huh" but didn't say anything. Her facial expression changed to something more defensive and said "alright, alright, I don't want to listen to any of the relatives right now so I figure I come here and hide, that, and I want to see what the ambassador looks like". Siado sighed then said "come on in".

She walked in and looked around as Siado closed the door behind her. She saw the smooth sandstone walls and flooring mixed with blue everything else, "now this is overkill" she thought to herself. She then spotted a female fox wearing a hooded-cape with shoulder pads that were probably to help keep the hood from blowing off or something, she was also wearing some armor that covered her bust with what look like a thin purple tunic like clothing underneath the armor. She wore a loincloth with a beaded belt and some kind of footwear that stretched to her knees with tape continuing a couple of inches above that as well as tape wrapped around her arms. The one striking feature that stuck out to Na-inna was that the fox standing not far from her was a lot younger than what she was expecting.

Na-inna spoke "you must be the ambassador I've been told about". The fox bowed and replied "yes mam, my name is Kinnianne, and you must be Princes Na-inna, it is an honor to meet you". The slim and lean Mipedian almost chuckled at the fox and said "hey, this isn't a formal ceremony or anything like that, just call me Na-inna, most do anyway". Kinnianne nodded her head and responded "yes Na-inna". The slim Mipedian then said "you can relax Kinnianne, I'm not like Mudeenu (or most royals anyway) I won't bite your head off or give you some violent verbal lashing just because you're not calling me by my name in formal. Just relax a little, think of me like Siado here, though more prettier to look at".

"Hey!" Siado said pretending to be offended. Na-inna smirked and looked over her shoulder and said "you know it's true". Siado playfully crossed his arms and childishly responded "and how many mirrors have you broken", Na-inna quickly responded "less than Mudeenu", Siado thought of a second and then nodded his head in agreement. The lean Mipedian turned around and said "and let us not forget Aunt Sede". Siado responded "oh dear Cothica, NO!"

Kinnianne chuckled under her breath and shook her head, she had just recently met Na-inna and from her interaction with Siado and wish for her to relax, she has a weird feeling she's going to like Na-inna, though she's not getting her hopes up.

"Hey Kinni...you don't mind if I call you Kinni? or just Kinnianne?" the lean Mipedian asked as she shifted her view from Siado to the fox. Kinnianne shrugged and replied "whatever works, I guess". Na-inna continued "ok, so Kinni...you enjoying your stay here in our beautiful jewel in the middle of nowhere?", the fox thought for a moment and then answered "eh, it's ok". The lean Mipedian spoke "could've been better?", the fox didn't hesitate to respond "yeah".

Na-inna then held her arms up and said "I know what could make it better". Kinnianne gave the lean Mipedian an odd look as Siado chimed in "oh no Na-inna! we are not going to the Lizard Lounge to get drunk out of our minds". Kinnianne shifted her gaze over to Siado and repeated "Lizard Lounge?", Siado pointed towards Na-inna and answered "it's her favorite place to hide from relatives".  
Na-inna commented "turns out taking an Overworld slur and applying it to an inn surprisingly makes good business". She continued "and Siado, we don't have to drink, there are other things we can do there". She started counting off with her fingers "they serve food, so if you're hungry we can go there to eat, Ebberim sings there, so we can go listen to music, we could just spend time there and talk, or we could wait for a fight to break out and watch. Then there's drinks".

Kinnianne thought what Na-inna said through for a moment before saying "sounds like a plan". Siado chimed in again "though we should probably wait until the sun goes down. Makes walking from here to there more bearable". Kinnianne agreed with Siado.

Na-inna asked Kinnianne if she mind if she could stay at the embassy for a little. Kinnianne didn't mind but asked why, the lean Mipedian gave a vague answer "lets just say I rather not go back to the palace for a while". Kinnianne knew she wasn't telling her everything but she just shrugged it off and then welcomed her to her new home.  
Na-inna pointed out the pattern going on by just standing near the entrance causing Siado to chuckle. The fox informed the lean Mipedian that she's not the only one to pick up on the pattern.

Na-inna turned and held out a piece of the candy she pocketed and offered it to Siado, which he took. She then turned to the fox and offered some of the candy "want some?". Kinnianne looked at the caramel colored sphere and asked "what is that?". Na-inna answered "there called Dewies, they are popular among the dew farmers, I don't know how they're made but they are sweet and have a milky taste to them". Kinnianne took the candy and placed in her mouth as Na-inna continued "yeah, you're suppose to chew on them, learned that the hard way".

The fox had to admit that the candy was sweet, Na-inna put one of the candies in her mouth and started chewing on it. Siado, while still chewing on his piece of candy, spoke up "so...what now?". Kinnianne shrugged and answered "guess we're going to the Lizard Lounge later", Siado could have sworn he saw Na-inna pump her fist in victory out the corner of his eye.

He just gave a smile and shrugged, after all, spending time with the princess and ambassador in a place that serves food and drinks sure sounds like a better alternative than guard duty aka staring at the door to the bathhouse in the palace with three other guards.


	8. Of Swords and Relatives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muddenu gets angry with a certain younger relative.

The sun has was gone and the moon and stars were slowly rising over the horizon. Near the entrance to the Oasis, Mudeenu was grumbling something under his breath while Marquis commented "well...that was...an interesting morning". Mudeenu, annoyed, turned to Marquis and quipped "an interesting morning? Marquis? I've never seen such a display of ignorance and stupidity!" 

Marquis remembered when the time came for the students to demonstrate. He was leaning against a wall while Mudeenu had fallen asleep under a tree, the headmaster returned to the training grounds and informed them that the students would be coming out to use the training grounds for their demonstration. He recalled Mudeenu waking up and standing back on his feet trying to look both intimidating and significant while he slowly walked over to where his commander was with his arms crossed behind his back. As he remember, everything was going along smoothly, he took mental notes on the students, noting that some of the moves they were using during combat could have easily blocked while others were a little slow counters and blocking but overall he notice a few that stood out and impressed both him and Mudeenu. That was until one incident however...

"It was fine for most of the event. Except for that one showdown..." Marquis began but got interrupted by Mudeenu who fired back "the kid got cocky and messed with someone who he shouldn't have".  
Marquis furrowed his brow and shot back "you almost broke his neck! was he to into himself? yes! but that doesn't justify loosing yourself and almost killing them!"  
Mudeenu raised his hand and said "Marquis, palace, days over".

The doors to the Oasis began to open as the duo rode closer to.

"I hope nothing bad happened today" Marquis mumbled under his breath as the duo passed the doors.

A couple of yards into the Oasis, Mudeenu and Marquis dismounted from their beasts, Mudeenu informed him that he would be going for a short walk before he heads back to the palace and was about to start his walk when Ario walked up to the duo. "You two enjoyed your day?" the big Mipedian asked as he approached. Mudeenu responded "don't ask"

Marquis asked Ario if anything noteworthy happened while they were gone. The big Mipedian commented that there was nothing out of the ordinary, Zhade was hanging from a tree, Tianne came to talk with Iflar and a few others, and then he said that Na-inna was spotted at the embassy.  
Mudeenu hadn't but taken a few steps away from both his fellow Mipedians and the beast before he stopped when he heard the last thing Ario had said. He tensed up and inhaled a deep breath via his nose before turning around and asking Ario to repeat the last thing he said. The big Mipedian repeated all that he had said before Mudeenu, trying to stay calm, politely asked "and where would my baby cousin be right now?"

Ario answered "at the Lizard Lounge with Siado and the ambassador". Mudeenu's anger slipped causing him to shout "WHAT!?!" and causing Ario to take a step back. Mudeenu then walked pass both Marquis and Ario with a rather pissed off look on his face as he began to walk or more like stomp his way to the Lounge.  
Marquis waited until Mudeenu was a few feet ahead of him before he ordered Ario to take the beasts back to the stable and started to trailed behind Mudeenu.

Mudeenu knew his youngest cousin was a party animal, he knew she liked to frequent the Lizard Lounge, he doesn't know what she does while she's there, but may the Cothica help her if he finds out it's something unacceptable. He tolerated her antics for as long as he could remember, but bringing one of his most trusted sentry, the closes he has ever come to consider a friend, and the ambassador, the woman who while he may not care much for but is still an important resident in the Oasis, down to her little world was something he would not tolerate.

He marched around buildings and alleyways until he reached his destination. He stood a couple of feet away from the entrance to the Lizard Lounge and watched as the very trio he was looking for came walking out. Na-inna was talking with Kinnianne and Siado was laughing about something, Mudeenu caught the trio's attention after making a grunt like sound.

Na-inna and Siado slowly looked up to see Mudeenu while Kinnianne was already facing the prince and Marquis who was a couple of steps away from him. Mudeenu exhaled and spoke up "care to explain what's going on Na-inna?". Na-inna answered "we were just...listening to music".  
Mudeenu, while holding his pissed off look, responded "and you felt the need to bring one of my most trusted guards and the ambassador with you?" Na-inna answered "yeah".  
Mudeenu, who was starting to let his anger get the best of him, questioned "why?! what in all of Perim, the Cothica, and everything else in-between made you decided this was a great idea!?!"  
Na-inna got closer into her cousin's face and responded "I don't know Mudeenu! maybe I figure "hey! it's hot and we've got nothing better to do so why not!" maybe because why not?" Na-inna then pointed towards the fox and lizard who have taken a few steps back and finished "maybe you should asked them"

"WELL I'M ASKING YOU!" Mudeenu fired back with his voice rising. Na-inna held her ground and shot back "THEN YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET THE WHOLE TRUTH!"  
"TRUTH!? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS NA-INNA? YOU'RE A CHILD!"  
"A CHILD MUDEENU? REALLY!"  
"YES REALLY! A CHILD LOOKING FOR NOTHING MORE THAN ATTENTION!"  
"ATTENTION!?!"  
"IT MIGHT AS WELL BE! NO OTHER REASON TO HIDE IN THE SAME SPOT DOING WHAT? DRINKING UNTIL THEY CAN'T WALK!? GETTING INTO FIGHTS WITH ANYONE AND EVERYONE?! TAKING WHO KNOWS WHO TO PRIVATE ROOMS AND DO WHO KNOWS WHAT?!!"  
"ARE YOU CALLING ME A WHORE!!!"  
"WELL WHAT DO YOU DO THERE THEN? YOU DON"T REALLY TELL ANYONE SO WHAT DO YOU THINK EVERYONE THINKS YOU DO!!!"  
"IT WOULDN'T HAPPEN TO BE NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS NOW WOULD IT?!"  
"SEE WHAT I MEAN? AND YOU WONDER WHY I SAID WHAT I SAID!"

Siado tried to sneak pass the two angry royals but Mudeenu pointed at him and yelled "YOU MOVE ONE MUSCLE AND I WILL BREAK YOUR LEGS!" while still looking at Na-inna. Siado froze with fear and didn't move anymore.

"DON'T GO TAKING YOUR ANGER OUT ON HIM! HE DID NOTHING TO YOU" Na-inna shouted at Mudeenu in defense of Siado. "IS HE NOT SUPPOSE TO PERFORMING GUARD DUTY RIGHT NOW? IS HE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE IN THE PALACE DOING WHAT HE'S SUPPOSE TO DO?!"

Marquis walked over to Kinnianne and calmly placed a hand over her shoulder causing her to turn her head to look up at him. "I think you should head back to the embassy" he said. He turned his head to look at the two screaming royals, then he turned his head back to the fox and continued "now might be a good time". Kinnianne nodded her head in agreement before beginning her walk back to her place of residents, leaving Marquis to keep an eye on the two royals.

"FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING MUDEENU! YOU AND THE REST OF THEM LOVE TO GET UNDER MY SKIN! YOU KNOW THAT?" Na-inna yelled at the top of her lungs.  
"IF YOU HATE US THAT MUCH THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE!" Mudeenu screamed back at his young cousin at the top of his lungs.  
"I WILL!!!" she screamed before turning around and marching straight to the palace.  
"THEN THAT WILL BE THE FIRST GOOD THING YOU EVER DONE!!!" He screamed back at her as he watched her storm off.

Marquis shook his head with a mix of both annoyance and disappointment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry. The next chapter will explain what Siado, Na-inna, and Kinnianne were doing inside the Lizard Lounge.


	9. Fantasy Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kinnianne, Siado, and Na-inna visit the Lizard Lounge.

The shops were beginning to close as the sun was setting across the more pleasant spot in the Mipedian desert known as the Oasis. A trio were standing in front of a two story tall, very thick tree with a purple fabric draped over it to resemble a tent. Standing in front of them was a creature that Kinnianne swore she seen before, unfortunately, she couldn't remember what the creature was. The creature resembled a very tall doll with an orange color, the fox took some time to rummage through some names of creature races and hoped that it came back to her. The only names of races she could think of were the Qerqad, the Tekols, and the Brar but unfortunately the name didn't come to her. She turned her attention back at the tree.

"So this is the Lizard Lounge" Kinnianne said as she stared at the tent. Siado looked to his right and asked "were you expecting something flashy?". Kinnianne replied "not really, more like, something that lets you know "Hey! you're here"". Na-inna looked to her left and commented "that's what the purple tent is for". Kinnianne responded "but that's like going to the Forest of Life with some friends and telling them that you hid a red box filled with valuables behind a tree and that whoever finds the box can keep what's inside, then they somehow end up in Glacier Plains looking for a red box".

Siado placed a hand under his chin and thought for a moment before responding "I can literally destroy your whole example right now". Na-inna pointed to the tree with an open hand and said "but it's on the inside that counts, you know?"  
Siado tilted his head slightly to the side to look at Na-inna and asked "since when did you become a romantic?" Na-inna titled her head slightly to the side to look at Siado and asked "since when did you start reading romantic stories?"  
Kinnianne turned to look at Siado and with an arched brow. She really couldn't see Siado being interested in reading something like romance, but hey, you do you do.

"I think it was around the time you gave them to me" Siado shot back. Na-inna was about to say something back but was cut off when Kinnianne raised her hands and said "alright you two. We're here to have a nice evening, not to have a brother-sister moment".  
Siado stretched his arm over Kinnianne and held his hand out to Na-inna and ask "brother-sister moment later?" the lean Mipedian shook his hand and answered "brother-sister moment later".

The fox sighed inwardly and asked "so...are we going in?" the lean Mipedian placed a hand on the fox's shoulder and responded "easy now, these people prefer that you relax a little before you enter". Siado also chimed in "yeah, just imagine being in a room full of me". Both girls turned to look at Siado with eyebrows arched, Na-inna spoke "I don't know if that would be a blessing or a nightmare in disguise".

Siado backtracked "on second thought, don't do that". Kinnianne turned to look at Na-inna who just shrugged and said "now lets go in".

Na-inna lead the trio up to the doll like creature who smiled and opened the front of the tent up to allow the trio in.

Once inside, Kinnianne's eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped a little as she saw just how big the place actually was. In front of them stood a stage carved from what was possibly once part of the roots to the tree. The tables scattered around the trunk of the tree were cut from the same elements along with the seats, some of the tables had had cups on them with what looked like six sided dice next to them, while other tables appeared clear. On the far side of the tree tavern appeared be machines of some sort, with a grid like object hanging over it at an angle. But despite all that was housed inside the structure, it wasn't as busy as she had thought.

"Nice place, ain't it?" Na-inna spoke towards Kinnianne, she continued as she beckoned both the fox and Siado to follow her over to the counter "yeah, we arrived early, so it's not as loud or packed as it usually is". The trio sat on the stools stationed in front of the counter. A muscular looking Mipedian walked over to the trio and commented "Princess Na-inna, wasn't expecting to see you back this week. What's the problem?"

Na-inna responded as she placed the back of her hand under her chin "come on Nuhem, you know it's just Na-inna during most hours. And no problem, just figured I show a special guess around" she pointed to Kinnianne sitting next to her with her thumb.  
The muscular Mipedian turned his head to look at the fox sitting in-between the lean Mipedian and the redder Mipedian and commented "so you're the ambassador I've heard about, kind a...young aren't you?"  
Kinnianne huffed while Siado snickered and Na-inna actually began to ponder about just how old the ambassador is. Na-inna turned to face Kinnianne and asked "speaking of young, how old are you exactly?"

The fox answered "I'm 58 solons". Na-inna arched an eyebrow and repeated "58?" the fox nodded her head in reassurance. The lean Mipedian jokingly sighed and said "ah, I wanted to make a friend with someone my age". Siado almost instinctively looked over his shoulder at along with the fox, the lean Mipedian spoke "40 solons".

The muscular Mipedian chimed in "well, back to prior subject, heard you had a rough first day". Kinnianne arched her eyebrows and asked "how did you know about what happened during the negotiations? that was a private meeting". Nuhem pulled out a clay cup and answered "like all villages, gossip spreads quickly, and the Oasis is just a big village. I'll gamble and say that by tomorrow morning word of what happened yesterday would have reached just about everyone". Siado patted the fox's back and spoke "don't worry about it too much Kinni. Just another day in the Oasis".

Na-inna also pointed out "that, and we are in a tavern so...yeah". Kinnianne responded "but that's still kind of creepy".  
Siado commented "not really. There are things scarier than that". The fox turned to look at him and asked "like what?" Siado placed a hand on the fox's shoulder and spoke "Kinni, there is a scale of things that scare the people here, at the very bottom you got children, then above them is the average citizen, above them is the soldiers and guards and royal family, above those are supernatural entities, objects, locations, and such, and above that is Mipedian mothers and trust me you do not want to get between them and their children unless your a relative, and then finally at the top are war beasts".

Nuhem commented "that's basically it". The muscular Mipedian changed the subject to a more business retaliated topic "so...what kind of drinks you having?" Siado was the first to speak up, and quite frankly spoke for everyone "something strong". Na-inna turned to look at Siado and was about to say something until Nuhem interrupted by saying "coming right up".

Na-inna finally spoke "no. Siado. I'm already in trouble back at home as it is, I don't need any more trouble". Siado turned to face the female Mipedian and responded "don't worry Na, it's just going to be one drink. And besides, you're drinking with the big kids now". Kinnianne slowly shook her head as the two Mipedians started up.

The bartender walked back towards the trio with a couple of clay cups full of some weird looking...drink? "here you go" he said as he placed the drink in front of the trio.

Kinnianne looked at the strange murky looking drink and asked "what exactly is this stuff". Nuhem answered "it's Starlight Ale, it may not be the most popular drink here, but with the water rations going on today, it's currently all I got".

Siado grabbed his drink and turned to look at Kinnianne "you ready?", she turned to look at the female Mipedian who commented "sure, why not?" before looking back at the redder Mipedian and answering "yeah". Kinnianne and Siado lifted their cups and drunk the murky liquid, Na-inna on the other hand tossed the liquid over her shoulder. All three sat their cups down in unison.

The fox coughed a little and shooked her head a little. Siado chuckled and asked "strong?", to which the fox responded "yeah".

Na-inna spoke up "so...did anything interesting happened this morning?"  
"Well, I had a heat stroke while trying to cross the bridge until..." Kinnianne pointed to Siado and continued "this guys showed to save the day". Siado smiled and said "yup, it was me". Na-inna shook her head and commented "with all that fur? I can believe it", Siado responded "hey, I know how to cut fur". The fox turned to look at the Mipedian and responded "not happening".

Siado said "come on, with my expertise nothing can go wrong", the two females responded in unison "yeah right". Nuhem sarcastically asked "you sure you're not just saying that to get a look at something Siado?"  
Siado turned to look at the bartender and responded "no". Kinnianne spoke "well either way, you're still not cutting my fur, I'm not sure if I want to go through with that much pain".  
Na-inna looked at her and said "I know right? having someone tugging and pulling your hair with a knife? that ain't going to happen". The fox turned to look at the female Mipedian and responded "hurts don't it?" the female Mipedian answered "yeah, the last time someone cut my hair was...wow, solons ago", Kinnianne said "yeah, now imagine that, but instead of just the top of your head, it's all over your body". Na-inna commented "now that's just torture".

The trio and the bartender continued to discuss random topics as the tavern began to fill with customers. At first, none of the two Mipedians nor the fox notice this, but once it start to get louder, it became clear that the tavern was picking up. Na-inna turned around and looked at the crowds of people sitting around the tables, gambling, eating, and the works. She spoke to the fox and Siado "you guys want to stick around and wait for a fight to break out?"

Siado turned around to look out at the crowded tavern before answering "can't, it's getting late. I better start heading for the palace before Mudeenu finds out I'm not at my post". Kinnianne turned around to look at the crowded tavern and asked "how do you know it's getting late?"

Na-inna answered "it don't start getting this busy unless it's almost nightfall".  
Siado stood up from the bar stool and thank Nuhem for the drinks before walking off towards the exit. Na-inna placed a coin purse on the bar counter and thank Nuhem before following Siado with Kinnianne behind her.

"Hey Na-inna" Kinnianne spoke. Na-inna turned to look at the fox while keeping pace with Siado, "yeah?", the fox asked "where did you get the money from? I don't remember seeing you with a coin purse at the embassy".  
Na-inna answered "oh! you remember on the way here I stopped to talk that guy wearing the red cape?" Kinnianne thought for a moment before slowly answering "yeah". The lean Mipedian continued "that was my friend Orhan, he owed me for helping his tail out a while back".  
Siado spoke up "the same Orhan who got lost and wound up somewhere near Prexxor Chasm?" the lean Mipedian responded "yup, that's him".

Kinnianne said "I take it he's a scout?". Na-inna answered "no, he's just an idiot", Siado chimed in "no argument here".  
Na-inna said "hey, remember when he dared Bivike that he could jump that gap and got his tail stuck in a crack halfway through?" Siado started laughing "oh I remember". Kinnianne asked "so what happened?"  
"Sobtjek and Ario were walking by and watched what happened. Yeah, Ario told me about it, said he couldn't stop laughing at the sight of Orhan dangling over a cliff by his tail. Apparently Sobtjek had to be the one to free him".

Siado began to laugh harder as the female Mipedian started to explain to Kinnianne about what Sobtjek did to free the other Mipedian but was cut off by the sound of a loud grunting sound.

Na-inna and Siado slowly looked up to see Mudeenu while Kinnianne was already facing the prince and Marquis who was a couple of steps away from him. Mudeenu exhaled and spoke up "care to explain what's going on Na-inna?". Na-inna answered "we were just...listening to music".  
Mudeenu, while holding his pissed off look, responded "and you felt the need to bring one of my most trusted guards and the ambassador with you?" Na-inna answered "yeah".  
Mudeenu, who was stating to let his anger get the best of him, questioned "why?! what in all of Perim, the Cothica, and everything else in-between made you decided this was a great idea!?!"  
Na-inna got closer into her cousin's face and responded "I don't know Mudeenu! maybe I figure "hey! it's hot and we've got nothing better to do so why not!" maybe because why not?" Na-inna then pointed towards the fox and lizard who have taken a few steps back and finished "maybe you should asked them"

"WELL I'M ASKING YOU!" Mudeenu fired back with his voice rising. Na-inna held her ground and shot back "THEN YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET THE WHOLE TRUTH!"  
"TRUTH!? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS NA-INNA? YOU'RE A CHILD!"  
"A CHILD MUDEENU? REALLY!"  
"YES REALLY! A CHILD LOOKING FOR NOTHING MORE THAN TO ATTENTION!"  
"ATTENTION!?!"  
"IT MIGHT AS WELL BE! NO OTHER REASON TO HIDE IN THE SAME SPOT DOING WHAT? DRINKING UNTIL THEY CAN'T WALK!? GETTING INTO FIGHTS WITH ANYONE AND EVERYONE?! TAKING WHO KNOWS WHO TO PRIVATE ROOMS AND DO WHO KNOWS WHAT?!!"  
"ARE YOU CALLING ME A WHORE!!!"  
"WELL WHAT DO YOU DO THERE THEN? YOU DON"T REALLY TELL ANYONE SO WHAT DO YOU THINK EVERYONE THINKS YOU DO!!!"  
"IT WOULDN'T HAPPEN TO BE NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS NOW WOULD IT?!"  
"SEE WHAT I MEAN? AND YOU WONDER WHY I SAID WHAT I SAID!"

Siado tried to sneak pass the two angry royals but Mudeenu pointed at him and yelled "YOU MOVE ONE MUSCLE AND I WILL BREAK YOUR LEGS!" while still looking at Na-inna. Siado froze with fear and didn't move anymore.

"DON'T GO TAKING YOUR ANGER OUT ON HIM! HE DID NOTHING TO YOU" Na-inna shouted at Mudeenu in defense of Siado. "IS HE NOT SUPPOSE TO PERFORMING GUARD DUTY RIGHT NOW? IS HE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE IN THE PALACE DOING WHAT HE'S SUPPOSE TO DO?!"

Marquis walked over to Kinnianne and calmly placed a hand over her shoulder causing her to turn her head to look up at him. "I think you should head back to the embassy" he said. He turned his head to look at the two screaming royals, then he turned his head back to the fox and continued "now might be a good time". Kinnianne nodded her head in agreement before beginning her walk back to her place of residents, leaving Marquis to keep an eye on the two royals.

"FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING MUDEENU! YOU AND THE REST OF THEM LOVE TO GET UNDER MY SKIN! YOU KNOW THAT?" Na-inna yelled at the top of her lungs.  
"IF YOU HATE US THAT MUCH THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE!" Mudeenu screamed back at his young cousin at the top of his lungs.  
"I WILL!!!" she screamed

Kinnianne turned her head to watch Na-inna storm off in the direction of the palace while Siado stood frozen in place with Marquis walking up towards Mudeenu who yelled back at his cousin.  
"If this is a normal day in the Oasis, then I hate to imagine what a crazy day in the Oasis looks like" the fox thought to herself. She then smiled to herself and slowly shook her head before continuing her walk back to the embassy.  
"Then again, I wonder what tomorrow will be like" she thought.


	10. Quite Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After not hearing from either Na-inna nor Siado for a three week after the events that unfolded outside the Lizard Lounge, Kinnianne has spent some time thinking.

Kinnianne sat alone at a small table in the dinning area of the embassy. She poked at the food on her plate with a fork, not really sure if she wanted to eat whatever it was that she had just cooked sitting on the plate in front of her. She let out a sigh and placed the fork down before looking out the window to the garden behind the embassy. While she enjoyed the quite over the screaming and yelling, she found herself feeling kind of homesick, she miss the bustling city streets of Kiru city, she miss all the familiar face back in the Overworld, but more importantly, she missed her father.

It had been only a week after the little spat between Na-inna and Mudeenu outside of the Lizard Lounge. But even that felt like a long time ago. She hasn't seen or heard from Siado after that night either and wondered whatever happened to him. Oddly enough, despite it being a week since she heard or seen either Na-inna or Siado, she couldn't help but feel the loneliness around her grow.

On the plus side she did find the time to get a few things accomplished though. She managed to fully explore the embassy and everything that laid within it, she finally bought some new clothes so she wouldn't have to wear the same thing over and over again. While out shopping, she spotted a pretty cool looking sword in a display case and was pondering whether or not to buy it, but after a quick look into her coin purse and discovering a lack of money, she decided against it. And she had met some more Mipedians, some of which were friendly while others weren't so much.

Overall, her stay in the Oasis so far was alright. Not the best but far from the worst and there's no shortage of interesting stuff going on around the town to keep her busy and interested. But that's ONLY when she gets the chance to leave the embassy.

The feeling of being the only Overworlder within Mipedian territory was sticking out like a sore thumb. The thoughts of Siado's warnings from her arrival to the Oasis played in the back of her head "Be carful with what you say or do, just because you can't see or detect anyone, doesn't mean that there isn't anyone listening in on your conversations or watching what you do in your free time, because whoever they are, they could be reporting everything you do or say to someone like Mudeenu or someone else or they are planning to take whatever you unintentionally gave away to blackmail you into submission". While she only recently took his words to heart, thinking that he just said that to scare her, she has started to feel paranoid about the Mipedians around her.

She snapped back to reality and shook the thoughts out of her head. While she knew that the Mipedians were great spies and such, and that such a task would not be hard, let alone impossible one bit. She didn't really feel threaten by the Mipedians, of course some of the ones she met during the negotiations were rude and uptight, she didn't feel like they would stick a knife in her back and make it look like an accident to get what they want.

At least, that's what she hopes.

She stood up and grabbed the plate. She walked into the kitchen and dumped the contents on the plate into a small barrel sitting in the farthest corner of the room.

The fox then sat the plate down on a counter across from the barrel before exiting the kitchen and made her way up to her room. She walked out to the hallway leading to the stairs, she paused and turned to look at the door, half expecting someone to knock on the door or at least open it. After standing still for about a few minutes, she let out a sigh before turning back around and resume making her way to the stairs.

She stood on the first step and placed a hand on the railing. She turned her attention back to the door and waited for a few more minutes. She shook her head and began to ascend the stairs.  
During her ascend, she started to wonder what both Na-inna and/or Siado were doing. Given the fact that the lean Mipedian was 18 solons younger than her, the fox wouldn't find it hard to believe that the lean Mipedian was probably just trying to get Mudeenu to back off or shut up instead of actually meaning anything about leaving the palace. But then again, this is Na-inna we're talking about.

The fox knew that Siado would be in a lot more trouble than Na-inna due to the fact that Siado is a sentry and not a royal. She hoped that the male Mipedian was alright after remembering how terrible of a monster Mudeenu was made out to be back in the Overworld. But given that Na-inna, while still young, is still a royal in the same vain as Mudeenu, probably help give their friend a lighter punishment over whatever Mudeenu might have wanted.

She soon reached the top of the stairs and began to make her way towards her room.

Once she reached the door to her room, she turned the door knob and entered and closed the door behind her. She placed her back against the door and gazed around her room. It was the same as it was when she first arrived, the only difference was the small potted plant she bought sitting on the end of her desk closes to the window. She slid down the door and into a sitting position, she wrapped her arms around her legs pulling them closer to her chest as her mind began to wonder.

The feeling of paranoia was starting to kick in. She eyed her room again and perked her ears up like she was searching for someone. But there was no inside or around the embassy.

Before the paranoia took full hold on the fox, she remembered that she received a letter from Maxxor discussion the things the Overworld was willing to negotiate over and an unfinished letter she had yet to finish and send to her father back in the Overworld.  
She got back up on her feet and walked over to her desk where she opened the second drew and pulled out the unfinished letter.

She began to read through it to remember where she left off. She read through the parts about her first day in the Oasis and what the embassy looks like as well as how the first meeting went.  
She pulled the quill sitting in the ink bottle on the other corner of the desk out and began to continue the letter. She wrote about the last three weeks in the Oasis, she wrote about the Mipedians she met and those that hung around the Oasis, she wrote about her concerns about the negotiations and question if Maxxor knew what he was getting into.

She soon finished the letter and signed her name before rolling it up. The only thing left to do was the one thing the fox didn't think about ahead of time.

Who was going to be able to sneak across the boarder and into the Overworld and into Kiru city just to deliver a letter to her father? The bigger question is, who would want to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter may seem shorter than the rest. Just been having a hard time staying motivated at the moment.


	11. Class Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iflar helps Kinnianne in using Mipedian mugic for the first time.

Kinnianne lazily leaned back in her chair humming a tune that her father use to hum when teaching her how to make potions. Of course, she never could get into it. She didn't find potion making interesting back when she was little. Though, in her teenage years, she quickly found this skill to be pretty useful when she would sneak off and go "adventuring" into the forest of life.

Funny enough. She remembers that tune her father would hum more than she remembers the potions he taught her to make.

Speaking of potions. She once heard a rumor about Mudeenu carrying around a small invisibility potion. Though why would a Mipedian want to (or need to) carry around that kind of potion is up for debate. All Kinnianne could figure is that maybe Mudeenu has a birth defect that causes him to not be able to remain invisible as long as other Mipedians. Other than that, your guess is as good as anyone else's, because since Mipedians can turn and stay invisible at will, it renders the need for such a potion rather pointless.  
Though Kinnianne also took into consideration that the potion might not be for the Mipedian. But again, if not for Mudeenu, then for who?

The fox pondered on this question before deciding that maybe the answer is best left unknown.

She turned around and started looking at the ends of the books on the bookshelf and wondered if she could find anything interesting to read. She stood up and walked over to the bookshelf and started pulling books out and turning them to the front to read the titles.  
"The Book of Boshe?", "Teachings of Shayan?", "Tails of Irdir?" Kinnianne put the books back with their sides facing out and mumbled to herself "do these people really think I'm this boring?"

She continued looking through the books until she came across the one book that caught her interest "The Complete Guide to Understanding and Performing Mugic?" she skimmed through the book and discovered that the book contained detailed instructions and detailed depictions on how to perform mugic as well as helpful advice on when and where to perform said mugic.

She figured that the book would be a good time killer, she walked back over to her desk and began to read the contents within the book. She flipped the front cover opened and was greeted with a prologue.

"Mugic. It is what was, is, and shall continue to be part of the world around us. All tribes, those not of the tribes, and those who set to join one of the tribes are able to cast it. Mugic. Is a mystery, and it will forever be a mystery beyond our understanding. We can theorize and only guess it's origin. We can connected it to the giants of old, to the ancient seven tribes before the modern seven tribes, all the way to the Cothica itself. But the understanding of mugic, just as the full understanding of mugicians and what they are capable of, will forever be possibly one of the greatest unknowns to us and many more generations to come. Maybe one day we will finally understand the origins of mugic and with it, unlock it's true and full potential."

Kinnianne rolled her eyes and flipped through the pages.

She read through the mugics she was familiar with. She did admire the detailed drawings of the creatures performing the mugic that the author put into the book.

She continued to flip through the pages but stopped when she discovered two very interesting types of practices previously unknown to her. "Mugic Divination and Mugic Evocation?"  
She began reading the chapter about "Mugic Divination" or better known as "Mugic Forging".

"The practice of being able to craft or "forge" mugic is not unheard of but widely looked down upon for being dangerous in the extreme definition. The ability to "forge" mugic is largely complicated with the "forger" needing not only the right ingredients, but also the right environment, temperature, and most importantly; the right song on top of other complicated things. The success rate of this ability or practice is slim with document reports of the loss of six mugicians who performed this practice. Though the success rate is slim, that's not to say that such a task, while daunting and complicated, has never been successful. The ingredients to create mugic may vary, but should one willingly subject themselves to performing these practices, take this advice. Make sure you are in a completely safe environment within at the minimum one-hundred and fifty-seven feet away from any towns or villages."

Kinnianne gulped at the thought of someone being stupid or brave enough to attempt such a thing even with documented reports of death and low success rates.

The drawing of the chapter depict a cloaked figure standing behind an odd looking table made with crystals holding some kind of light anomaly. On the table, what appears to be a broken pick is sitting across a unfinished heptagon.

Kinnianne gambled that the way the six mugicians died via combustion if the light anomaly is anything to go by.

She flipped the page and began reading the chapter "Mugic Evocation" or better known as "Mugic Adapter".

"Though mugic can be played by anybody, most can only perform their tribes mugic and generic mugic. But, the ability to perform mugic from one's own tribe and others is not impossible nor is it unheard of. The ability for a creature from any tribe to perform another tribes mugic has been noted and performed as far back as ancient times, but in modern times, this practice has became somewhat lessened do to rising tensions and do to persons health. Being able to perform another tribes mugic from one's own would require the person in questions body and mind to adapt or allow the other tribes mugic. Long term pre-meditation should be taken into consideration before one's body and mind is able to perform such an act, one should also have one or more creatures with them while performing. It should be noted that not everyone's body or mind can handle such act as there is a non-lethal health risk if one's body and mind can't coordinate with the other tribes mugic."

The drawing of this chapter shows an unknown creature holding tow separate mugics of different color emitting light.

Kinnianne closed the book and sat back in her chair. She pondered on how such creatures are (or were) able to cast multiple tribes mugic, though the book states pre-meditation as the answer, she gambled that something else might have to be involved.

She wasn't suicidal enough to even attempt to perform Mugic Forging, but the idea of being able to perform another tribes mugic interest her.

She began to think of how she would be able to get her hands on some Mipedian mugic before the sound of someone knocking on her door caught her attention. She quickly straighten herself out before answering "come in".

Iflar opened the door and greeted Kinnianne as he walked into the room. "evening Mrs. Kinnianne. I've heard you have been improving on your negotiation skills compared to your first day".  
Kinnianne didn't know whether or not what Iflar just said was a compliment or some condescending figure of speech, but either way, she thanked him.

Iflar paused for a bit before saying "so I'm sure you heard about what happened between Na-inna and Mudeenu after their little squabble outside the tavern?" Kinnianne nodded before answering "I haven't heard much of anything involving Na-inna nor Siado after that night to be honest, though I take it that the hostilities went over quickly".

Iflar coughed before commenting "well...in a way...", Kinnianne tilted her head slightly and arched her eyebrow, Iflar continued "my family thought it would be better to separate the two until cooler heads prevailed". Kinnianne could tell Iflar felt uncomfortable continuing so she waited for him to finish speaking before she commented "I understand Iflar, I'm sorry I asked".  
Iflar rubbed and cracked his neck before speaking "It's ok Mrs. Kinnianne, you didn't say anything wrong, it's just that...this is not the first time one or more family members got into a little spat out in public, it's more so that...they know how to drive people crazy and play with their patience".

Kinnianne could tell that, like Na-inna, Iflar wasn't telling her everything, she then asked "has anyone in in your family did that to you?" Iflar rubbed the back of his neck and answered "oh, more times than I care to count".

The fox followed up by asking "so...what do you do when they or anyone really gets to you?" Iflar sat in the chair in front of the desk and answered "I try to leave the area, normally I just go and walk around the outside of the Oasis walls, or I would end up trying to find a quite place to meditate".  
Kinnianne commented "and I take it there were a couple of close calls?" Iflar shrugged and answered "a couple, yeah".

The conversation grew still for a moment until Iflar noticed the book sitting on the desk. "The Complete Guide to Understanding and Performing Mugic? find anything interesting?"

Kinnianne spoke as Iflar picked up the book and began to skim through it "I have found a few things worth looking deeper into. especially one technique called "Mugic Adapter"".

Iflar looked up at the fox and responded "Mugic Adapter?" I haven't attempted that in a long time". The fox raised an eyebrow and repeated "a long time?" The white Mipedian clarified "I did attempt to play a Overworld mugic that one of our mugician, Tianne, brought me. At the time I was young, and didn't know that I couldn't, well more like wasn't able to successfully perform the mugic".

Kinnianne asked "so what happened?" Iflar shrugged an answered "my father and Tianne found me in my families garden unable to hold anything down. I was violently sick for a week after that. Lost some weight too".  
The fox looked at him with a confused expression, how could anyone admit something like that nonchalantly and not feel embarrassed or fazed by it? Cothica knows if she admit to anything like that, she might die of embarrassment or to nervous to talk to people ever again.  
Iflar finished "I got better once the week was up. But looking back at how unprepared I was, I think I should have read this book before even attempting it. On the positive side, I still have that mugic as both a reminder and a souvenir".

"Have you ever attempted it since?" the fox asked with a deep interest. The Mipedian answered "I want to, but unfortunately, I just don't have the time to try it again".  
Iflar took another glance at the book before looking back at Kinnianne and said "you what me to help?" The fox quickly replied "no! I'm good, just got to figure out where to get some mugic is all".

Iflar pulled out a mugic known as Song of Translocation from his pocket and held it out for Kinnianne to take "you sure you don't want my help?" Kinnianne didn't know if Iflar was trying to pull some cruel trick on her or if he genuinely wanted to help her nor did she want to know why he carried around a Song of Translocation on him in the Oasis, but she accepted his offer.

Iflar commented that it would be smarter to stand in the middle of the room out of the way of any objects that might get transported with them. They both walked over to the middle of the room where Kinnianne held the mugic above her hands while Iflar held the mugic from under his.

The white Mipedian looked at the fox and said "I will have the mugic translocate us to the Oasis's gate inside the city while you perform". Kinnianne nodded her head in agreement before she summoned her muge to activate the Song of Translocation, causing the room to be covered in a blinding light.

Once the blinding light disappeared, Iflar heard the sounds of the Oasis's streets bustling with life. He looked around and just as he stated, they were transported to the gate inside the Oasis.

"Well I must say Mrs. Kinnianne, this being your first attempt at using Mipedian mugic and it turned out to be a success!" Iflar commented as he continued to look around. When he hadn't heard Kinnianne say anything back, he turned around and noticed that she was not standing anywhere behind him.

He looked around and said "Mrs. Kinnianne?" After waiting for a few seconds for a response and after hearing nothing, the Mipedian started to get nervous. He repeated her name again but to no avail.

It wasn't until the sound of someone puking caught his attention. He walked around the corner of a building and spotted the very fox he was looking for bent over on the ground face first in a wooden bucket.

The crown prince sighed and smiled before walking over to Kinnianne where he crouched down next to her and patted her back. "you did better than most beginers Mrs. Kinnianne" he said to her, only to receive a thumbs up gesture as she continued to vomit in the bucket.

He stayed by Kinnianne's side until she was done and able to stand up before walking the now ill fox back to the embassy.


End file.
